Moscow invites Washington to give serious consideration to the arms control initiative put forward by Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 26, the Russian Embassy in the United States said in a Twitter post on Friday.
“No one wants another missile crisis. President Putin’s proposals provide compromise approaches for the benefit of all nations. We suggest that our partners give them serious consideration,” the embassy said in response to remarks by US Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea.
On Friday, he commented on a statement made by Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov. “Russia seems to now regret destroying the INF Treaty by cheating for more than a decade. The United States and our Allies have seen this before. It didn’t work in the 80’s. It won’t work now. Thank you CIA,” he noted.
On Wednesday, Antonov said that remarks by US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien who said that Washington would be ready to deploy intermediate-and shorter-range missiles in Europe posed a threat to regional and global security. He stressed that the additional steps proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 26 to de-escalate the situation in Europe would be a constructive alternative to such destabilizing plans.
Putin earlier reaffirmed Moscow’s commitment to a moratorium on the deployment of ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles until US-made missiles of similar types appeared in the respective regions. He added that Russia’s call on NATO countries to impose a similar moratorium on the deployment of intermediate-and shorter-range missiles remained relevant today.
In September 2019, media reports said that Putin had sent the leaders of several countries, including NATO members, a proposal to impose a moratorium on deploying intermediate-and shorter-range missiles in Europe and other regions. The US subsequently rejected the initiative.
